The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is pleased to announce the 2010 Haslam Scholars. Among them are students who were born in Argentina, Ethiopia, and China, as well as those who attend high school in Mississippi, Kentucky, and South Carolina. The students also hail from every major city and region in the great State of Tennessee.

Ariel Buehler
Farragut High School
Knoxville, Tennessee

Ariel Buehler expects to major in food science and thereafter pursue a doctorate in food microbiology. Ariel enjoys the violin and viola and is a member of the Knoxville Youth Symphony Orchestra. She is an alumna of the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Sciences and the Atlanta and Steven’s Point, Wisconsin, Suzuki Summer Institutes.

Desta Bume
Awassa Tabor Senior Secondary & Preparatory School/Signal Mountain High School
Wotera, Ethiopia; Chattanooga, Tennessee

Desta Bume expects to major in pre-med and thereafter pursue a career in medicine and public policy. Raised near a village which does not enjoy electricity and running water, Desta labored to support his family while commuting by foot to a high school of over 7,000 students. In 2009, the Cherokee Gives Back student exchange program and Desta’s Chattanooga host parents provided him with the opportunity to undertake his junior year at Signal Mountain High School.

Kathleen Connelly
Knoxville Catholic High School
Knoxville, Tennessee

Kathleen Connelly expects to major in philosophy and thereafter pursue related advanced degrees and a career as a writer. Kathleen enjoys the piano, French, and Scholars Bowl, and is an alumna of the Governor’s School in International Relations and Girls Nation in Washington, D.C., for which she was one of two students selected from Tennessee for participation.

 

Marianela D’Aprile
Westview High School
Martin, Tennessee

Marianela D’Aprile expects to major in architecture and thereafter pursue professional innovation internationally in the field. Marianela enjoys French and Italian and is fluent in Spanish, and she also plays soccer and is a tutor at her school. Marianela is an alumna of the Washington University Architecture Discovery Program and is also a citizen of Argentina.

Xin Huang
Bartlett High School
Bartlett, Tennessee

Xin Huang expects to major in biomedical engineering and thereafter pursue a career in medicine or pharmacy. Xin enjoys the saxophone, track-&-field, and service to his school and community. He emigrated from China and entered White Station Middle School without any prior knowledge of English. Xin is an alumnus of Careers in Health, Information, and Informatics internship at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center Library and Tennessee’s Governor’s School of Engineering.

Lindsay Lee
Oak Ridge High School
Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Lindsay Lee is majoring in mathematics and Spanish. She is currently working with an REU group at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis, and plans to publish a paper on their feral cat population model. Lindsay is an active tutor, and hopes to do more Spanish translational work and medical volunteering. She plans to study abroad in Spain, pursue a pre-med concentration, and take more classes in art, poetry, and other foreign languages.

Melissa Lee
Brentwood High School
Brentwood, Tennessee

Melissa Lee expects to major in pre-med and pursue an M.D./Ph.D. in neurological or cognitive science. Melissa enjoys the piano and is a student at the Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music, and she also enjoys Girl Scouts, tutoring, German, and has studied at the Nashville Chinese School. Melissa is an intern at Vanderbilt University’s MacDonald Lab and fourth author of six on a paper under publication consideration in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

Brady Miller
Ooltewah High School
Ooltewah, Tennessee

Brady Miller expects to major in materials science and thereafter pursue advanced degrees in the field. Brady enjoys soccer, Spanish, tennis, and his involvement in Future Business Leaders of America. He is an alumnus of the U.S. Naval Academy’s Summer Seminar and considerable course work undertaken at Chattanooga State and Saint Norbert College.

Blake Palles
Wilson High School
Florence, South Carolina

Blake Palles expects to major in nuclear engineering and thereafter pursue advanced education and a career in the field. Blake enjoys Spanish, tennis, and service to his school and community. Blake was appointed to Florence’s Mayoral Council of Youth Needs will graduate from Wilson High’s International Baccalaureate Program.

Brianna Rader
Halls High School
Knoxville, Tennessee

Brianna Rader expects to major in the biological sciences and thereafter pursue an M.D. Brianna enjoys the saxophone, film, and student government, and is involved in numerous pre-professional and community service groups. She is an alumna of the University of Tennessee Medical Explorations Program and a current member of the Knox County Youth Health Board.

Mark Remec Pavlin
Oak Ridge High School
Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Mark Remec Pavlin expects to major in the biological sciences and thereafter pursue an advanced research degree in the biological or physical sciences. Mark enjoys chess, soccer, French, and breakdancing, and he visits Slovenia, Italy, and Croatia annually. He is currently conducting research in genetics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Katherine Rush
Gatton Academy of Math and Science
Bowling Green, Kentucky

Katherine Rush expects to major in chemistry and vocal performance and thereafter pursue a doctorate in toxicology. Katherine enjoys dance, theater, and vocal performance. She is one of sixty students selected for the Carol Martin Gatton Academy of Math and Science, Kentucky’s specialized math/science high school located on the campus of Western Kentucky University.

Noelle Sibley
Providence Academy
Johnson City, Tennessee

Noelle Sibley expects to major in journalism and thereafter pursue a career in the field. Noelle enjoys the violin, vocal performance, theater, and storytelling. She is the president of the National Honor Society at Providence Academy and a student of music at Milligan College.

Ashley Smith
Gulfport High School
Gulfport, Mississippi

Ashley Smith expects to major in mechanical engineering and thereafter pursue a career in automobile safety engineering. Ashley enjoys robotics, French, and working with Geographic Information Systems (GIS). She has studied engineering in Berlin as a participant in a technology exchange program between her high school and Carl Bechstein Gymnasium, and at Kettering University (formally GMI Engineering and Management Institute) in Flint, Michigan.

Elizabeth Williams
Science Hill High School
Johnson City, Tennessee

Elizabeth Williams expects to major in pre-med and vocal performance and thereafter pursue an M.D./Ph.D. Elizabeth enjoys vocal performance and theater, and is a member of the All-State Chorus and the Highlands Youth Ensemble. She is an alumna of the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts.